


Feign

by IronSwordStarShield (SweetFanfics)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), M/M, Not A Fix-It, Re-telling of the video reveal scene, massively self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 14:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20244493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/IronSwordStarShield
Summary: feign: verbfeigned; feigning; feignstransitive verb1a : to give a false appearance of : induce as a false impressionb: to assert as if true : PRETEND--When confronted with the video of his parents death, Tony has a different reaction than in canon: it seems like he always knew...but did he?





	Feign

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea while salting in a stevetony discord and [ the tweet I made summarizing the idea ](https://twitter.com/trustissuesinc/status/1161390742604001280) got enough steam & requests for a fic (and other ppl saying they wanted to write it), I was like "okay!! fuck yeah lets be massively self-indulgent and write this out!")
> 
> This is def 'questionable' characterization in the sense that, you can argue this is more 616 Tony or a bit more SIM. But I think it COULD be MCU Tony because he does have that tendency for cold anger in him.

Steve can count on one hand the number of times he’s been absolutely terrified. All of those moments had happened before he’d gone into the ice. Every single one. But this, now, as he and Tony watch the Winter Soldier beat Howard Stark to a bloody pulp on an abandoned back road on this small screen in the middle of fucking Siberia while Zemo smirks at them? Steve feels every part of him freeze in horror. 

His mind spirals in free fall: Tony wasn’t ever supposed to find out. Not like this! How had Zemo even found the tape? _This _was his grand plan? _This _was how he was going to break the Avengers? Fuck, fuck, _fuck_! He should have told Tony years ago. What’s Tony going to do? Is he going to hurt Bucky? Turn to Zemo? Confront Steve? There’s no way he’s going to take this well. 

Steve glances over at Bucky, who has gone pale. His eyes are locked on the screen, bottom lip trembling faintly as his past self walks to the other side of the car. Steve’s never seen Bucky look like that, so anguished, so lost. And Tony... Tony looks like he’s barely holding himself together. There’s a fine tremor running through him; it reminds Steve of electricity, of a live wire. One wrong move and they’ll all get burnt. Steve licks his dry lips, wondering what to do. What to say. _Is there _anything he can to make this okay? Is that even possible?

Maybe not. But he knows his priorities. He can’t let Tony hurt Bucky. They can’t let Zemo win.

The monitor fades to black, leaving them staring at their reflections. Tony’s still. Unnaturally so. It’s the calm before the storm. Steve can taste the electricity on his tongue; the hair on the back of his neck stands up in warning. Any second now, lightning is going to strike. Tony’s going to lash out, either at him or Bucky. Steve takes one step towards Tony, ready to stop him. 

_I can’t let him hurt him, _the carousel goes round and round in his head. _I can’t let him hurt him, I can’t let him hurt him_.

But Tony defies his expectations. He turns to face Zemo and taunts, “That’s it? That was your grand plan? I’ve worked with five year old kids with better plans that yours.”

For a second, there’s pin-drop stunned silence in the large room. _Everyone _stares at Tony in shock, Steve included. He opens his mouth to ask but Zemo beats him to the punch, hissing, “Impossible! There’s no way you knew the truth!”

“I’m Tony Stark,” a low whining noise rises out of the Iron Man armor as Tony raises his arm, aiming a small missile at Zemo. On the other side of the small window, Zemo looks torn between anger and dismay. “There’s not a lot I don’t know.” 

Relief overwhelms Steve; he could almost cry. Zemo, realizing that all his mechanisms have been for naught, snarls as he makes a run for it. But there’s no escaping the combined forces of Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, _and _the reformed Winter Soldier. Zemo’s knocked out and trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey within minutes, ready for transport back to Vienna courtesy of T’challa.

As he watches T’challa’s jet fly off, Steve beams. They’ve snatched victory from the jaws of defeat once again. It was a close call and he realizes how close they came to fucking up back there. If Tony hadn’t found out about the video before, things could have gone south _fast_. But they’ve done it. Steve breathes out an audible sigh of relief, gaze darting over to look at Tony.

He’s been aware of the fact that Tony’s standing two steps out of reach, in Steve’s peripheral vision, since they’d bound up Zemo. Actually, he's stayed just outside of reach since the confrontation in the bunker. It's that realization that sets off warning bells in Steve’s mind; something’s wrong, something’s terribly wrong. But he ignores the feeling, chalking it up to left over adrenaline after the chase and fighting. But the sense of wrong, wrong, wrong lingers like a bad aftertaste on his tongue. 

The flavor intensifies when Steve asks Tony, “When _did_ you find that video? I mean, how did you know?” 

Tony turns to look at him and the warning bells turn into a blaring klaxon. Many stories have described a character being so angry that the heat turns cold. Steve's never understood that because how can anger become cold? But he gets it now as he looks at Tony. Tony’s too still, like a frozen lake. There’s ice in his gaze when he meets Steve’s eyes and coldly answers, “I didn’t.”

It feels like someone just cut his legs out from under him. Steve can only gape at Tony, mind horrifically blank because what? _What_? Tony _hadn’t _known? He’d... he’d found out...But...

Snow crunches under someones boots. The chill bites into Steve’s cheeks the same way terror sinks its teeth into his heart. Panicked, he takes a step back. He thought he knew what anger looked like on Tony. Turns out, he doesn’t. Because this Tony? Who is so angry that he’s shut down and left _nothing _behind... Steve doesn’t know what to do. He’s _never _come face-to-face with this kind of cold and quiet anger.

Perhaps worse is the way Tony’s looking at him. Yes, there’s so much anger in his dark eyes. But there’s also a world of hurt and disappointment there. It’s a maelstrom that steals Steve’s voice, courage, strength away from him, leaving him staggering back as he whispers, “Tony... I...”

It’s like his words break whatever spell Tony was under because he moves forward, three quick steps and he grabs Steve by the collar and _shakes _him. “Did _you_ know?”

“Tony,” Steve starts, defensively, helplessly, hands coming up to grip Tony’s wrist. The shield on his arm gleams in the dull sunlight. 

Servos and gears whine softly as Tony tightens his grip and raises his voice. “_Don’t _bullshit me, Rogers. Did. You. Know?”

Over Tony’s shoulder, Steve sees Bucky’s dark figure cautiously move to hoist his gun. He knows he should warn Bucky not to do anything stupid (_Don’t do what I’d do_, he wants to warn Bucky) but Steve doesn’t dare look away from Tony’s accusing glare. There’s no one else in the world in that moment. It’s just him and Tony and all the hurt he’s chosen to inflict on Tony. Steve wishes he could go back in time and kick himself. _But_, a voice cries out defensively, _we never thought this is what would happen. How could we have known that Tony would find out the truth this way? _It's petulant and childish and not good enough. 

Steve sucks in a breath, feels icicles forming inside his lungs. This is the worst thing he’s done. “Yes.”

_Agony _rips through Tony. Steve's shocked he doesn't hear _something _break in Tony, the hurt is that palpable. And it hits Steve that Zemo’s won. They didn’t win jack shit; the Avengers are done. Tony’s fingers loosen, leaving Steve to stagger back even as Tony takes a shaky step back. The brunet’s lips tremble with emotion, his dark eyes turning glassy. His hands are curled into fists, trembling thanks to the force he's exerting. He looks at Steve like he’d stabbed him in the back and that’s not far from the mark.

Steve doesn’t realize he’s reaching out to Tony until Tony takes another step back, deliberate and firm this time. Tony swallows harshly, lips pursed together so hard they turn pale. “Okay.” The word floats over to Steve, penetrating the static buzzing in his ears. 

_No. Please, _he wants to beg. He knows Tony’s going to walk away and Steve doesn’t... He needs to explain. He _needs _to explain why...

“I can’t believe I-” Tony cuts himself off, looking away with a grimace before he drags his armored hand down his face; it leaves an angry red streak down his cheek. He turns to glare at Bucky for a long moment before Tony turns to Steve. Steve's stomach drops into his boots because he's back in 2012 on the helicarrier, facing down Tony's open disdain.

“We’re done.”

“Done?”

Tony’s expression doesn’t even flicker at Steve’s rough question. “Come back. Don’t come back. You’re no longer my concern.”

“Tony...”

A snap and a click and Tony’s face is hidden from him. Iron Man stares him down, cold and emotionless. “I don’t want to be on a team where the leader doesn’t trust me. Especially not after the same sanctimonious jackass preached about the dangers of keeping secrets from the rest of the team.”

_It wasn’t about...that wasn’t why... _A thousand denials come to die on Steve’s tongue. Not that he’s given the chance to air them because Tony’s turned away from him. He stops for a moment in front of Bucky, impassive face staring him down as he asks, “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t take you out right now.”

_No_! 

Steve chokes on the strangled cry but the pair don’t pay him any attention. Something dark and agonized passes through Bucky before he quietly admits, “You _should _take me out. I’m too dangerous.”

He staggers forward, shield half raised, ready to leap to Bucky’s physical defence. _That’s _when Tony turns to face him. Steve can’t see it but he gets the sense that Tony’s sneering at him. “Nice to see how far your belief in me goes, Rogers.”

Rogers. When’s the last time Tony called him that? He’s been Steve for so long. He’d thought he was ready to pay whatever cost necessary to save Bucky. He’d been a naive fool, too caught up in his selfish desires to pay attention to what was happening around him. And now, the cost is more than he can bear. 

“Tony... I’m...”

The rest of his apology is buried under the roar of Iron Man’s repulsors and the snow that whips around them. Steve raises a reflexive hand to shield his eyes, realizing a second too late that he doesn’t have to do that. When he lowers his hand, Tony’s long gone. 

_What’ve I done? What’ve I done_? Steve screams at himself, feeling hopelessly lost and adrift in a storm. There’s no relief to be found. There’s just dark waves rising up to swallow him whole and sink him to the bottom of the ocean. There’s a ringing in his ears as his world comes crashing down around him. Everything goes white and then dark. 

Like a puppet whose strings have been cut, Steve falls to knees, watching Tony’s figure grow smaller and smaller until he disappears from his sight, taking all of Steve’s strength with him. His lungs feel too big and too small at the same time. The chill burns the corners of his eyes. Steve sucks in a breath, and another, and another but the anxiety just grows and grows, like a balloon being fed helium.

And then, _pop_.


End file.
